I did it. On my recent trip to Paris, I shot the first mini-documentary of my upcoming series and an environmental portrait session with an Argentinian artist in his workshop.
First observation: Trying to fit both into a single day of shooting was too ambitious.
For the shoot, I used the Sony ZV-E1 as my main video camera and the A7C II for environmental portraits and as a second video camera.
I’ll be sharing the results and key takeaways soon.
In the meantime, here’s a picture I’m quite proud of—straight out of camera with some basic adjustments. I just need to find the time to refine it.
📸 A7C II + Godox AD200 PRO | 24mm GM | f/1.4 | 1/160s | ISO 400
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My biggest passion in photography is environmental portraiture. I reached out to Greek photographer Sakis Karakasidis, who shares this obsession.
We approach things differently—I aim to get my final look almost straight out of camera because I don’t enjoy long editing sessions. Meanwhile, he incorporates light painting, blending multiple layers and exposures to create his final images.
It was fascinating to hear what drives him, how he works, and who inspires him.
This morning, an Fstoppers article on How to Master Environmental Portrait Photography popped up in my feed. Some key takeaways:
Balancing strobes/continuous light with ambient light – I’m currently debating the best setup for travel. Carrying both strobes and continuous lights is impractical, but relying only on LEDs might not cut it if I stop down.
The author prefers natural light – I’m an off-camera flash diehard. I love the dramatic look it creates, so he’s barking up the wrong tree with me…
Using lighting instead of depth of field to isolate subjects – He makes a solid point about stopping down to retain background details. I’m guilty of relying too much on shallow depth of field, and the image I just shared is proof of that.
The candid vs. posed debate – A natural moment isn’t always the most striking, but forced poses can feel artificial. In my portrait, the artist is looking at a collage he uses as a reference for his printing plate—somewhere in between staged and spontaneous.
